A true friendship
by little purple butterflies
Summary: Spoilers for 2x12 "What happens in Burma...". Peter did show up and helped Neal in the end. What made him do it? And what did Neal think? This is my take on it.


******Disclaimer: All characters are property of USA network, Jeff Eastin, ect. I just borrow them for some fun and then hand them back to their owners. I do however took the dialog from the episode as this************ is meant to be a deeper look into a scene/scenes.**  
**Special thanks to my dear friend Sarah (1983Sarah) for all her help and encouragement and the great beta. Any mistakes that are still in there are mine. Also thanks to** **everyone who reviewed/alerted one of my stories!**

"I warned him," Peter told Diana, who was standing right in front of him, frustration seeping into his voice. He looked around helplessly, at a loss what to do now that she had confirmed what he had feared.

Not that he had kidded himself into thinking that Neal would actually refrain from doing it after the conversation they had had earlier.

But he had hoped against hope that his words would have some effect on the conman.

The problem was that Burke had no idea what Neal's father had done that prompted Caffrey to risk everything - his freedom, possibly even his life - just to help a father, who by own admission had not been a very good one, to reunite with his son.

_It's what a father should do_, Neal had said. That in particular made Peter think that the story about the hero father that Caffrey had told him wasn't the whole one. And as much as the agent wanted to get to the bottom of this he knew that, unless Neal would offer the information by himself, he wouldn't get it out of the young man.

Diana interrupted his train of thoughts. "Yeah, but you didn't stop him," she replied, and Burke thought he'd seen a barely suppressed smile on her face as she did so.

His attention was fully on her now as he asked cautiously, "What do you mean?" He had inkling as to where she was going with this but he sure as hell wasn't gonna admit to something if he turned out to be wrong with his assumption.

"Boss, you could've chained him to the desk if you wanted to, but you didn't."

She was right, he had a whole arsenal of ways to keep Neal within sight, and Peter had used it numerous times already during earlier cases. Only to keep Caffrey from doing something stupid, something he would regret later, the agent told himself.

And there it was.

There was the truth that Burke was doing his best to keep from surfacing in his mind so that he wouldn't have to admit it to himself. He only kept his consultant from doing things he would regret, or rather things that Peter would regret having let him do. And in this case it was different. Because - barring any unforeseen turns - he wasn't sure he would.

He couldn't keep a small smile from showing when he asked, "Are you saying that I wanted him to get the drive?" It was spoken as a question even though it was more a confirmation of her thoughts.

Yes, he hadn't done anything this time because he didn't want to, even though he, for once, had known that Caffrey was planning something beforehand, and even roughly when it was about to go down. And yet he had let Neal out of his sight, enabling him to carry out his - whatever it entailed - con to get back the hard drive, despite knowing that it would be something that he as an FBI agent couldn't condone.

Maybe it was the fact that he wanted justice to be severed, in whatever way. Or simply the look on Neal's face, sadness, disappointment, or something close to that, when they had talked about fathers.

And, recalling that conversation, he realized that of course the man must have thought that Burke, while not saying it outright, had sanctioned it because Peter had never told him that he shouldn't do it, he had simply said that he couldn't help him if anything were to go wrong.

Diana's tone was serious again when she answered, "I'm saying that you know Christopher's innocent and you're not fond of diplomats." Which Peter recognized was her diplomatic way of saying 'yes'.

And Burke had to admit that she had a point there. They knew who had committed the theft the kid was accused of, and yet it didn't matter. They were out of options to turn this around now. Or better, they were once the hard drive left the country.

Which brought him back to the dilemma at hand.

It wasn't really that Peter, in this case, minded that Caffrey would resort to the illegal. No, he was concerned for his friend, and the consequences it would have if he got caught.

Sure, the CI was one of the best at his trade, so there was a small chance of this happening, but the past had proven that whenever the young man was involved emotionally in something, the odds changed.

Turning away briefly, the agent took a deep breath that turned into a sigh. "I don't want Neal to get caught," he softly voiced his worry.

Diana's tone matched his when she reminded him, "Well, you know where he is."

That was all Peter needed to hear.

Like he had said to Caffrey, he couldn't help him once the man was in a Kabaw prison. But he damn well could make sure it didn't come to that.

With a small smile starting to form on his lips he replied, "All right, have your diplomatic friends at speed dial. If this goes wrong, Neal and I are gonna start an international incident."

They parted and Burke jogged to his nearby parked car before making his way over to the place of the crime as fast as traffic allowed, the fear that he might already be too late front center in his mind.

This wasn't supposed to be how justice worked. Like he had told Caffrey once, justice can only be achieved by letting the law do its work. And yet in this situation there's nothing Peter, and the law, could do to get an innocent person freed. For once, he felt himself doubt the system, or rather the law's power in it.

And even though he'd never admit it to Caffrey, the man had been right. If it had been his son, or Neal's, the agent would have used every asset available, legal or not. But then maybe Neal already knew he was right since Burke hadn't denied it. After all, the conman was pretty good at reading between the lines.

Arriving at his destination he quickly left the car and picked up his pace as he turned the corner, stopping at the welcoming sight that greeted him.

There the object of his concern was, standing on the sidewalk in front of the consulate, his focus completely on the ambassador and his assistant as they approached the diplomatic car parked across the street.

Judging by the worry written all over Caffrey's face his plan was not working.

Now with his friend being evidently safe Peter's goal was reached. So the smartest - and the legally right - thing to do was to just keep standing there and leave it at that. After all Neal had had his shot at it even if it apparently didn't work out.

But for whatever reason Caffrey was set on doing this, it meant a lot to him, so in turn it did to Burke as well.

It wasn't an easy one, but decision made the agent, unnoticed by the man in question, walked over to him.

"Neal?" His tone was neutral, void of any emotion.

"Peter," the CI greeted before quickly starting to defend himself and his - to Burke unknown as of yet - actions. "Look, I know I got-"

"I know," the older man interrupted, having a pretty good idea of what his friend was about to say.

The fact that Caffrey actually tried to argue showed Peter that he seemed to at least have thought about their earlier conversation, that he knew it was wrong. It was enough for the agent to let him off the hook.

Besides, time was of the essence if they were to bring Neal's plan to success because the fact that the conman was still here meant that he was waiting for something to happen that hasn't yet.

So Burke simply asked, "What do you need me for?"

If it wasn't such a tense situation the agent would have enjoyed the sight of his consultant being speechless for a change as the man cocked his head, clarifying after a moment, "You're not here to stop me?"

It was uttered as a question, not a statement like he usually did.

And this wasn't the only welcome change to business as usual.

The agent had crossed the line between legal and illegal for Neal instead of walking it before, usually as a reaction in order to straighten out the man's activities outside the law. This time though it was a conscious decision beforehand.

"Savor the moment," he told his friend, slightly amused at the rare occasion that his behavior had caught Neal off guard.

Neal's reply wasn't cocky like one would expect, it was sincere. As was the gratitude in his for once unguarded eyes since he knew that Peter showing up here spoke volumes and that the man had actually offered to help out even more. The agent's trips to the other side of the law usually only happened when Neal left the agent no other choice. So he realized in that moment that his friend did have faith in him for having a good reason for doing this, even if it was unknown to the older man. Because, while Peter wanted to get Christopher free just as much, he would never go as far as Caffrey to achieve it.

He deliberately hadn't asked Peter for his help or protection because he hadn't wanted to put the agent in a situation where he ultimately might have to choose between Neal and the law. So Caffrey couldn't even begin to guess what had made the agent change his mind all of a sudden. The only thing that came to mind was their earlier conversation.

But then Neal didn't think that simply his mention of what the agent would do if it were one of their kids had persuaded him, at least not that alone. And he couldn't have known why Neal wanted to help Wilson make up his shortcomings as a father. So basically he came up empty for a reason. Not that this was the time to dwell on it.

"I'm already savoring," he replied while Peter turned his head to look at the diplomats. It prompted Neal to do the same. Knowing that any further conversation along this line could wait he launched into a short explanation of the situation to bring the agent up to speed. "Look, I'll spare you the details, but basically the smoking jacket is not smoking. We need to stall."

His eyes locked onto Burke's. There was no need to admit that he was out of ideas on how to do that without being too obvious, he knew his friend had already picked up on it.

Whatever he had expected Peter to say, or do, he was surprised to see the small smile on Peter's face as the agent turned around and walked over to where the Burmese ambassador was still instructing his assistant by the opened back door of the dark limousine.

Peter schooled his expression as he approached the vehicle, having spotted the perfect aid for his task in form of the stack of parking tickets stuck under the windshield wiper. Retrieving them he came to stand in front of the car, the farthest away from the pouch holding the desired object - and apparently Mozzie's bizarre smoking bomb - he could manage.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost to Burke. Until now it looked like Neal's con was the only way to achieve justice this time; and now here he was standing, about to do the last piece of it by the book through using his position in law enforcement to complete the con Caffrey had started. He could do something that his friend, with all his conman skills, couldn't.

So once again, it took the agent and the conman, both sides of the law, working in a joined effort to bring this to a good end.

Since his movements had gone unnoticed by the Burmese, Peter called, "Mr. Ambassador."

Unseen by either one of them Neal didn't even try to suppress his smile as he watched his friend launching into full agent mode.

Caffrey was aware that his somewhat cryptic answer about his dad earlier had surprised Peter, he had clearly seen it on Burke's face. Yet, no questions had been asked.

He knew that he owed him an explanation; the man at least deserved the truth about his father, or rather as much as Neal was comfortable sharing, after everything he did here.

Looking at his friend, about to save the con, Caffrey decided he ultimately didn't need to know what made Peter change his mind. All that mattered was that Burke had, like so often, shown up at just the right moment.

And it proved what Neal knew all along; They may not see eye to eye on some topics, and their trust was fragile at times, but when it came down to it they could count on each other.

And that was what, by any standards, defined a true friendship.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! If you have some time please leave a review! Constructive criticism is always appreciated.**


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